One Minute Club!

Lessons begin this week, and for this year's BIG practice challenge we're going to start a studio One Minute Club. This is a challenge that's been floating around the piano teaching world for a while, but I first heard of it on Susan Paradis' blog several years back. And I think it's the one for us this year as we continue to build our sight reading fluency across all learning levels. 

To get into the One Minute Club, all you have to do is to play all the notes in your assigned flash cards in under a minute! In the studio we'll be using Note Rush during piano lab to build the skills and try to gain entry into the club. Any students who hit their target during lessons will get added to the One Minute Club studio wall chart, AND will receive an official membership card and a prize. (I'm thinking gift certificates to the Pink Flamingo candy shop, or something equivalent in your area for online students, so you know, prizes your piano kid is going to want!)

We'll have leveled targets for differently leveled students. These also perfectly correspond to the different levels in Note Rush as follows: 

  • Primer 1 - Bass F to Treble G 
    • Note Rush Level 1 "Starter"
  • Primer 2&3 - Bass C to Treble C
    • Note Rush Level 2 "Part Staff"
  • Level 1&2 - Low F to High G
    • Note Rush Level 3 "Whole Staff"
  • Level 3+ - Grand Staff Plus Ledger Notes
    • Note Rush Level 5 "Grand Challenge"
And students can definitely try for higher levels for some added bragging rights once they've completed their assigned level.  

Piano parents, the best home practice option will be Note Rush which is available on the App Store, Google Play and Amazon stores for $4.99. The studio is not in any way affiliated with Note Rush, it's just the perfect digital flashcard tool for getting that note memorization down because it listens as you play the piano, so your piano kid is actively learning where the note corresponds from the page to the keyboard. 

I will also have flashcards available on request for students who would like to take them home to practice. For practicing with flashcards I would encourage playing the note on your piano, not just saying the name. This is because there are, for example, 7 G's on the piano, so saying 'G' to a flashcard doesn't always mean your piano kid knows which G they're actually supposed to play. That symbol to key correspondence is our goal with this studio challenge.

I'm looking forward to a little healthy competition this year. And since it's a school year challenge, we'll have the whole school year to work towards it if this is a tricky concept for your piano kid. I am confident that with good home practice and encouragement, every piano kid can hit these goals before next Spring!